I have been in India now since October 6th – 2 months- and how they have flown.

My days lean into each other.. am I busy?.. absolutely – so what is different about my life here .. that holds my heart that catches me and connects me?

I look out of my window and the valley merges into the hillside – the pattern on the valley floor a kaleidoscope of different greens and browns.  The sounds of the kids playing down on the flat playground come practice area for our karate group are all around me.. noisy.. yes it certainly is sometimes.. but there is also a depth of quiet that is profound in between the laughs and the chatter of the children.

I have cried buckets since I have been here.. and until a couple of days ago, didn’t really understand what that has been about.  Until I heard a downloaded talk by Andrew Harvey on Sacred Activism.

Here I was squashed into an unbelievably small patch of corridor on the Pune – Mumbai Express Train 7am.. not an inch between me and the next people.. in fact we could not fall over.. there was no space to do so.  Okay I said to myself.. I am going to be in this position for a couple of hours so I may as well listen to something else than the train noises and the yells of those who incredibly are still trying to sell things as they squeeze past pushing us further into intimacy with those next to us.

So I dig out my iphone and plug in my headset.. and choose a random talk from the Food For All Summit calls.  Here was a man Andrew Harvey, speaking about just what I had been experiencing.  His name for it is Sacred Activism.

And the first thing he said in these times that is needed is to experience the breaking of your heart.  The synchronicity that is occurring in my life is miraculous to me.. how is it possible that I receive just the answer I need at just the time I need it?

Here was this man talking to me about how when you leave behind your addictions.. and those things that hold your protective shell around you.. when you strip these away.. then the reality of the world is revealed.. and at this time – that reality can be incredibly painful.

Here for me.. the pain is related to Mother Earth.. as each injustice is done to her I have been feeling it as my own pain – as the trees are chopped for firewood around me in the forest, I feel the baring of the earth and the pain of the trees.  As I see the emaciated body of a man lying on the street and it is unclear whether he is still living or not.. I feel the pain of our humanity and the wretchedness of our inhumanity.

And then we turn the corner and meet a 95 year old gentleman whose generosity of heart floods all the pain away.

I cannot describe the amazement that is present and the gratitude that flows as I see this world with clear eyes – gratitude for being – gratitude to the timeless nature of things – gratitude for the simplest events – and my days flow into one another being here, in service to our children – the future of our earth.

As you know if you have been following this blog, I am in a massive transition in my life.  Moving out of the old .. and into a new situation – a new life. A new way of being.  Well is it really a new way of being or simply moving deeper into a state of trust and surrender to what is?

And to be truthful to myself, that is a journey that I have been on for very many years.  It just feels of late to be considerably more intense.

And somehow in that intensity it becomes as something new – something untested, something to be stepped into in a way that I have yet to experience.

In the past few days I have found myself in a lull, a feeling of a gap.  I have completed – or almost – all the promotion for the Sage Journey to India that I am organising – well completed in effect, all the computer version – and now is the time to get out there.  To move into the ‘face to face’ arena.

And in this small transition phase – cyber space to real space, I confront the gap.  That’s interesting – this little ‘gap’ is allowing all the hidden emotions and concerns to surface, that somehow were buried in me.

The feelings of: “Is this enough?”  can I connect once again to that knife edge place of total trust and allowing of ‘what is’ to manifest in my life?

It feels almost as if I have lost it…

and so I have turned once again as I do on these occasions of quandary and questioning to an old friend – no I don’t know this man – but he is a mentor of mine for his words have so often brought a clarity and insight into my life.

Barry Brailsford and his beautiful Wisdom of the Four Winds cards.

The card he offered to me was Hawk – Vision – and the message was of reassurance and the admonition to Honour the Dream.

To look outward for inspiration and inward for insight and to risk the journey.

Hawk speaks of of becoming lost in frustration and hopelessness, in confusing detail and a narrowed world.  And from that .. speaks of taking the time to let the Spirit fly.

In my own struggle and falling into the darkness, I am aware that this is so often what is also happening around me.

How when I am feeling these dark times,  I must remind myself that those I am connected with can also be in this space.  And that it is needed that I share what I am learning or feeling.. and also the way through the dark time is to be freely given .. because now the message is not simply for me alone as we are not alone.

We are intimately connected.  Our energy fields are common ground.. it is time to share all – to be open, to express vulnerability – because only in this way can we assist each other to move through the dark times and to regain that vision of the dream which is to come.

So the Hawk tells us to renew the vision, to gather power, to nurture acceptance and honour courage.  To heighten awareness and end separation.  To offer hope and join the circle .. to turn our faces to the way home.

Come take my hand – let us journey together.

The Coming Times Are Here..

Two days ago my housemate gave a week’s notice that she was leaving.  And although I am getting ready to leave myself at the end of February, I was understandably going to miss the weekly rent she gave me.

So yesterday I began thinking fairly casually about putting an notice on a chat site I belong to – for a suitable person to move into a short term fully equipped space.

I didn’t do it. I simply thought about it in some detail.

Two hours later my phone rang.  It was a friend – who chatted to me briefly about our New Year experiences and then asked..

“Do you happen to know where I might find a suitable place to stay for a couple of months as I am not comfortable where I am?”

Well yes I do!

If this is the speed with which we can manifest in this time – then it is imperative to be aware of what we are wishing for!

We have been told by many mystics and have been given many predictions that the power of the intuition and the manifestation of our thoughts will increase markedly in the coming times.

The coming times are here..

The silly season is really upon us. So as you do the last minute rushing around, preparing the stuffing or buying the last minute goodies – keep the spirit of Christmas in your heart.

It is so easy just to get into busy mode and forget that the person on the other side of the counter or the check out is a living breathing human being – so slow down just that small amount.. realise that time is flexible and that the sharing of that extra moment to wish the other a good day and a heartfelt Merry Christmas – is a valuable gift that we can give and give and give yet again and in that giving the love in your heart moves outward.

And a circle is created – from your heart to the heart of another and back again.

Each of us has the desire to be loved and to love in return. Christmas gives us yet another opportunity to express that. To share what we would love to receive.

So from me to you – I wish you all the joy – gratitude and peace at this special time of the year.

Have a wonderful Christmas and may 2011 be the year of the heart for us all.

India has almost swallowed me whole!  I have neglected my blog and been absorbed totally in the sights sounds colours smells and vastness of this land.  It is vast in a completely other way to Australia – vast in the sense of the massive population, the expanse of mind stretching experiences and .. and.. and….

Where shall I begin to tell you of my own expansion here?

Let’s start with a small story, but a story which has brought tears to my eyes and has once again shown me that Existence, God, the Universe .. whatever it is you would like to call it.. is just there at the tips of our fingers when we stretch to embrace it.

It’s morning here in India – I am very fortunate, I am in a comfortable and beautiful place, the home of my friend Nandini – (you will hear more of her and her work soon) and a visitor arrived to our door.  A gentleman aged 78 years. who is in his words gainfully employed and even busier since his retirement.  He is passionate about organic farming – and is organising a cooperative of farmers and helping them with the marketing of their organic produce.  That may sound insignificant given the degree of acceptance of organics in places like Australia – but here it is in its infancy.

We shared some thoughts, and talked a bit – I asked him if he would act as advisor to our garden project at the new Orphanage site – and then just at the end, he asked me.. do you know anyone who does biodynamics.. the links are made .. One Man One Cow One Planet – Peter Proctor – here in India to help the farmers revive and restore their land after the disastrous Green Revolution speaheaded by Monsanto.

The web of the network spreads, I can’t tell you how this made me feel.. it was like I am acting as a node in a huge interconnectedness .. a maven or a linchpin if you like to borrow from Seth Godin’s terms.  The node is small, the node is insignificant on its own and cannot act on its own, but given the connections, given the inner space to allow the flow to move through it, it can facilitate the connection to the greater whole and can allow the spark to travel fast around the network, joining , connecting, flowing and allowing.

I stood completely humbled by this seemingly small experience, and experience that showed me so clearly that being right here right now is the perfect place for me.  and letting go into the flow of existence is all that is needed now and always.

And now the day after I wrote that story above, I have the news from home that my rented house has been put on the market!!  I am asked to move by end of February.. just the time when I was planning to bring the first of the ‘voluntourism’ trips to India.. and not only that.. Maya Shahani of the Sage Foundation has invited me to come and work here with Nandini and herself!  I almost feel as though I am in a roller coaster – it is of my own making, as I put my hand up but it has picked me up and has barrelled me along with it.. who is in control any more?  Me? or have I simply offered, and been accepted for a role which is once more way more expansive than that which I ever imagined?

I can only laugh and stand in awe at the way the world is turning around me and rearranging itself to suit the current pictures of reality which are evolving as I write.

So often we go through life thinking we have to do it tough.. it is only us.. no-one there to help out.. have to do it all ourselves.

I don’t know about you.. but this is something I can really relate to.  But guess what .. it doesn’t have to be so hard.

The hard part actually could just be as simple as letting go and asking.  That’s the tough bit – admitting that you can’t do it alone, admitting that there may be assistance waiting for you.. just at your arm’s length.

The Indian indigenous people of the Americas.. say the field of plenty is lying just there at the tips of your fingers as you reach to the heavens.

What is this field of plenty?  Is it the riches overflowing.. the abundance that gives you yachts and fast cars and travel to exotic places, or is it simply that which supports you in living a whole and balanced life.. connected to the universal principles that say when you are genuinely in need of assistance and ask for that to be given .. if you step aside from your egoic mind that says: “I have to do it .. no-one is there for me”.. and simply request assistance .. that the gates can open and the flow can begin to cascade …

In the past couple of days I began to ask.  In my meditation in the morning – as I sit and my mind rushes from one silly topic to another .. and does its best to divert me from the focus on the breath.. or the connection to the whole, in glimpses I have asked for assistance.  Stepped aside from the need to control.. to do it all myself.. and simply asked for that which seemed beyond me to create.

And guess what? .. it has been given.  It has been ushered into my reality .. gently, subtly, and clearly ariving on my doorstep.

And all that is left for me to do is to bow in gratitude.

This past couple of weeks have been a rollercoaster..

Our business Best Health – which I have run together with my sister and best friend Sahaja Springer for 18 years is evolving and changing. Sahaja is moving on to new and creative fields – associated with her work with Jean Houston and Social Artistry – stay posted for more updates on that!

I have debated long and hard about what to do with Best Health.  And with some help from my good friends and mentors, I am choosing to continue with the work here – to allow it flow into different streams and evolve in a new way.

It is spring time in this new phase of Best Health and in this stage it is the time of re-creation – the time to re-vision and to make new.

If you were to ask me what I see right now in the new evolution I can only say that I am choosing to release the hold on Best Health and open it to become a bigger umbrella that will shelter new enterprise below it .. as well as encourage and diversify the existing work in which we are already involved.

I am going to India next month for three weeks. There I intend to allow the Universe to show me new ways of being – I know that the soul of India is immense and to go with preconceptions to this land would be akin to Alice downing her drink and then believing Wonderland were still Kansas .. !

But I go with intention  – an intention to learn – to be open to opportunities – and to contribute in whatever way is possible to both Maya Shahani’s SAGE Foundation and the Nandini’s ophanage.

I also looking at organising future ‘Voluntourism’ trips for those who would like to come join a group on an adventure to Make A Difference.  There are structures already in put in place by Mike Handcock of Rock Your Life and Soul Journeys in New Zealand – no need to reinvent the wheel here.. I am just looking for the first hand experience so it is easy for me to promote.

And the title – with elegance – it is this quality that I would like to constantly recall as all these changes roil and bubble around me – because to be in a state of elegance implies to me to be centred, and calm with poise. Some definitions say the following -

“Elegance is the attribute of being unusually effective and simple – grace -  using the minimum and sufficient steps in any sequence to obtain the outcome intended”

To bring these qualities to the changes and the new creation must assist flow. And to be in flow is to live in grace.

Let it be!!!

And by whe way.. during this time, amongst other things – I discovered the real value of FaceBook.  I have had so much support and love come through to me on that social media that I have been totally amazed!  Thank you to my friends.

Recently I listened to Jean Houston talking on Women On the Edge of Evolution and she offered a wonderful exercise -

She said:

Make three columns on a page – on the top of the first write the heading -

What do I want from the Universe?

On the second – What does the Universe want from me?

and on the 3rd – What do we – the Universe and I want together?

It’s a great exercise – do it a few days in a row.. get a sense of what is being flowed through to you in this exercise.

Trust is the key.. it is the key to all life.

If we do not trust then nothing really works.

If we trust then everything flows – everything works.  As we look outside of ourselves and view the outside world what we are seeing really is our inner reflected back at us.

So an untrusting state of mind sees danger and concern and risk and scary things on each corner of our lives.

The trusting soul looks out and sees friends and gratitude and joy and a friendly universe ready to provide what is needed at each moment.

There is magic in every moment when we trust.  the smallest things can pop out at us and show us the way to opportunity – to connecting the dots which will allow us to move forward in the flow of our lives.

I have had an experience tonight in just that way.  I am leaving for India on the 4th of November – to go and spend time with some friends there who are doing great work with the less privileged people of our world.  I intend to visit with Nandini who runs an orphanage – here are her children.. 75 of them.

While eating my evening meal, I was reading a magazine – and the article included information about Stephanie Alexander who has set up and runs the Kitchen Gardens Foundation here in Australia -  a wonderful organisation that helps kids establish great gardens in their schools.

The lights went on.. the picture of the orphanage garden came in my mind and I was immediately inspired to write to Stephanie and request a link .. a way to become a sister school .. some support for Nandini’s children through the establishment of mutual gardens in other countries.  It’s just a seed.  I have sent the ‘hello’ email to Stephanie.. I will keep you posted on the outcome of this simple message that came through the connections that the Universe provides if only we have the eyes, ears and heart to receive them.

Kindness is in the forefront of my reality today.

Dave Rogers coach extraordinaire reminded me that today is a day for random acts of kindness. I don’t know if it is the official day but should every day not be the offical day for kindness?

And here is a poem called “Kindness” that touches my heart and brought tears to my eyes when I first read it.

Written by Palestinian American Naomi Shihab Nye ..

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

For her poems you can find them here.

Watching this video is a privilege – to get the insights of this advertising executive discovering new ways of being… I encourage you to watch it and think what can each of us do in our lives to bring us back to the real and back to the essentials.